Buying Balls - In a Season, How Many Balls Do You Lose a Round?

[nevets88]

I bought the 6 box special Snell offered during the World Series and am debating whether to get the 6 box Get Sum special. 

Obviously how many balls you lose depends on a lot of factors, courses, hazards, skill level, strategy, etc... And you'll find balls, although not the ones you want, typically.

So let's say you play 50 rounds a year. 2 balls a round? Just throwing out numbers here out of the blue, maybe I'm off.

[DrMJG]

Very lucky year for me so far.  In the full rounds this year I have lost only 2 balls, both because I gave them a bath in the pond and both because I hit a green WAY too hot and they bounced in after skimming the landing area. 

I fully expect the fates of golf and the whims of the golf gods to impact the number of boxes I have here!  (Way too many gifts of golf balls as gifts, way too many!) In my younger days, I tended to buy them in multiple boxes when I get down to 4-6 sleeves.

Fore!

Edited November 26, 2018 by DrMJG

[billchao]

37 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

So let's say you play 50 rounds a year. 2 balls a round? Just throwing out numbers here out of the blue, maybe I'm off.

Don't you have a rough idea yourself? I lose about 3-4 balls/round. I buy 6 dozen around the holidays and if I run out during the season I buy more.

Since the balls won't go bad, it ultimately comes down to whether you want to spend $100 now for extra balls or $120 later when you need them.

[klineka]

I was gifted a total of 5 dozen for Christmas of 2017, and I have played ~30 rounds this year.

I still have 2 full boxes plus maybe a sleeve or two from a 3rd box.

I do tend to play with some that I find if they are good ones like ProV1s, so I know I've lost more than 30 this year, so I'd say I probably lose 1.5-2 balls per round on average.

Edited November 26, 2018 by klineka

[DeadMan]

My rough guess is that I lose one ball a round. Maybe slightly more than one.

[NM Golf]

I rarely lose golf balls, in fact I actually cannot remember the last time I did lose one. My golf balls go through a cycle; new balls are used for tournaments and money games. Balls with a round on them are used for fun rounds and practice rounds. Once a ball gets two or three rounds on it I put it in my shag bag. I also use older balls as "driver balls" as I do not like hitting range balls with my driver.

[nevets88]

31 minutes ago, billchao said:

Don't you have a rough idea yourself? I lose about 3-4 balls/round. I buy 6 dozen around the holidays and if I run out during the season I buy more.

Since the balls won't go bad, it ultimately comes down to whether you want to spend $100 now for extra balls or $120 later when you need them.

I really don't keep track of it, I should do better at that, yes. There will be stretches where I don't lose many balls and then a short stretch where it's like, oi, do I have enough balls in the bag?

I already have 6 boxes ready for next year, maybe 10 in the bag, half a box of Pro VIs that were a gift. Bought the Get Sums anyways, figure balls have a pretty long shelf life, can use them next next season if too many balls.

[bkuehn1952]

In 2018, I bought two boxes of a dozen new balls.  I use new balls for tournaments and then continue to play them afterward. Of the new ones, I have 1-3 left and maybe 2-3 that are too scarred up for me to feel comfortable that they still perform acceptably.  So let's say I lost 18 new balls.  Probably another 32 lightly used balls have gone missing.  I will play close to 100 rounds so I lose a ball every other round.

Edited November 26, 2018 by bkuehn1952

[boogielicious]

59 minutes ago, billchao said:

Don't you have a rough idea yourself? I lose about 3-4 balls/round. I buy 6 dozen around the holidays and if I run out during the season I buy more.

Since the balls won't go bad, it ultimately comes down to whether you want to spend $100 now for extra balls or $120 later when you need them.

3-4 per round? That seems high. I lose an average of about 1-2 per 18 hole round. Some rounds none, other more. Some 'lost' balls can be retrieved from the pond.

[Patch]

I don't lose many balls. Fact is I don't hit them far enough for them get "too lost". I can usually play several rounds without losing a ball. The ones I do lose, are usually in a water hazard. I tend to stay away from those hazards.

Another way I have to retire a ball early is due to scuff marks. Damage caused by landing the ball on rough surfaces will make a change necessary Cart paths, and gravel mostly.

I buy Bridgestone balls at Walmart. Probably around 10-12 dozen per year. Price is always the same, and they are pretty consistent for my game from box to box. 

After I play 18 holes with one ball, I will check it out for future playability. If it is damaged in some way, it goes into my practice bag. 

In the next few months, some of big box stores will be having store wide clearance sales. I will check them out from time to time for golf stuff. 

[billchao]

28 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

3-4 per round? That seems high.

I know 😢

29 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I lose an average of about 1-2 per 18 hole round. Some rounds none, other more. Some 'lost' balls can be retrieved from the pond.

Mine is an average, too. I don't lose a ball every round and some rounds I lost a lot of balls.

I didn't factor in found balls I play and lose, just the ones I purchased. It's likely I lose more balls than I think.

[boogielicious]

21 minutes ago, billchao said:

I know 😢

Mine is an average, too. I don't lose a ball every round and some rounds I lost a lot of balls.

I didn't factor in found balls I play and lose, just the ones I purchased. It's likely I lose more balls than I think.

If you find a ball, don't you get to deduct a stroke from your score?

[Moxley]

I think just over 1 ball on average ; many rounds it's none, sometimes 1 or 2. I try and play carefully.

 

[mcanadiens]

Given that I tend to play easier courses, I probably average 1 or 2 lost balls per round most of the time. Then there are those days when I can't hit the side of a barn from 30 paces. That turns the overall average into something I don't want to think about.

I'd guess that I get away with buying four or five dozen per year in part because I find a lot of balls on my City of Dayton munis. I don't mind playing them either most of the time. Tons of fellow hackers leave em all over the place.

[HJJ003]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

I lose about 3-4 balls/round.

Me too. 

Edited November 26, 2018 by HJJ003

[dennyjones]

This past year I bought several dozen orange Bridgestone E6.    I can't lose them fast enough.   They are terrible to find in a fair way and I've almost given up on using them.   

I average about 1.5 / round.    

[GolfLug]

One a round.. 

[Yukari]

My loss of golfballs tend to fluctuate quite a bit depending on whether my game is on or off.  Typically, I would lose one or two per round at the most, if my game is halfway decent for that round.  In 2018, there were many rounds where I didn't lose any, but put the ball int he shag-bag either after the round or after about 10-12 holes due to scuffing. 

The course I typically play has a lots of hazards to lose golfballs.  So, if my game is off, then I tend to lose 4-5 golfballs per round.

I tend to buy last years models during the year as they are much cheaper than the current year models.  So most of my golfballs are a year behind.